64th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - 1.HC

Belgium, February 28, 2009

Hushovd delivers in messy finale

Thor Hushovd gave the Cervélo TestTeam a strong start to the Classics season by taking a commanding victory in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The big Norwegian came out of a chasing group which caught two escapees, Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) and Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo), with only a few hundred metres to go. Kevyn Ista of Agritubel and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) rounded out the podium.

The winner had the advantage of a teammate in the breakaway, and did not imagine he would be the one to win. "This is unexpected, I thought Haussler would have it," Hushovd said. "I thought he and Langeveld had all the chances to sprint for victory." When the duo was caught, things were simple for Hushovd. "In the end, all I had to do was sprint."

The messy finale was overshadowed by a crash when Langeveld was caught and wanted to get out of the way. He moved to the left side of the road, blocking Filippo Pozzato (Katusha). Pozzato was at full speed, contesting for victory. The Italian went down, impeding Tom Boonen in the process.

Boonen almost went down, so was lucky he didn't crash. "On the other hand, I felt really strong and I could have been on the podium. I was in Hushovd's wheel when the crash happened." Boonen had to swerve around Pozzato. "I lost 30 metres and I had to re-start my sprint."

Pozzato also felt he had good chances of winning. "I was alongside Hushovd when I crashed." Pozzato suffered a hematoma on his left thigh. "I injured my left elbow, too – it hurts pretty badly."

Fair weather for Belgian opener

The race, held in unusually nice weather, started out with a five-man escape group of David Boucher (Landbouwkrediet), Hervé Duclos-Lassalle (Cofidis), Jean Zen (Palmans), Guillaume Blot (Cofidis) and Wim De Vocht (Vacansoleil).

Blot, a neo-pro, enjoyed the day on the front, even though things didn't go all to plan. "I had to change my bike three times," he said. In the end he also was too tired. "I still don't have the physique for those races and I simply hit the wall. I will be going to bed a bit disappointed tonight." Blot said the headwind was tough but that "the course is beautiful."

A four-man group with Steven Caethoven (Agritubel), Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas) and Björn Thurau (Elk Haus) went after the five front runners, but ended up getting disqualified. The four went through a closed railroad crossing.

A disappointed Thurau didn't agree with the decision. "The lights had just started blinking. There was a bit of a dip beforehand and we were going 60 km/h. If you want to crash, yeah, then maybe you could stop."

Rabobank sets Taaienberg on fire

Rabobank set the decisive move on the Taaienberg, with 55 kilometres left to race. After the tough climb four riders of the Dutch team emerged on the front – Nick Nuyens, Sebastian Langeveld, Juan Antonio Flecha and Joost Posthuma.

The gap never went past much more than a dozen seconds and about 15 km later the four were caught by a small group, with all the favourites assembled together. The move contained Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Leif Hoste, Gilbert, Greg Van Avermaet, Nuyens, Langeveld, Flecha, Posthuma, Bram Tankink, Haussler, Andreas Klier, Hushovd, Pozzato, Niki Terpstra, Martin Velits, Marcus Burghardt, Tomas Vaitkus, Kevyn Ista and Thomas Voeckler.

Gilbert made his his second move, but was unable to get away. After the Molenberg, the final climb of the day, the front group of five was finally brought back.

Gilbert explained later that one team really put the stamp on the race today. "Hushovd was impressive and Haussler was incredible. In fact the entire Cervélo was strong." But Gilbert said that his Silence-Lotto team was also up for the task. "The three protected riders were there and Hoste did a lot of work. Fourth place [for Greg van Avermaet] is not bad."

An attack by Langeveld and Haussler set up the finale, with Hoste and Chavanel doing most of the work to close the gap. Chavanel explained his reasons for dedicating himself to Tom Boonen. "It was likely it would come down to a sprint and I there I have no chance." Chavanel was joking about his 'team time trial' on the front. "Really, going strong? I didn't place!" On a more a serious note he confirmed that he was on form. "Tomorrow we will ride to win. Our objective was to win one of the two races [Omloop and Kuurne - ed.]"

Chavanel's efforts paid off as the leading duo of Haussler and Langeveld was caught in the final few hundred metres. Despite a strong representation by the Rabobank squad, the Cervélo TestTeam seized control of the sprint, giving Hushovd a perfect lead-out and placing three of its riders into the top ten.

No Belgian Classic would be complete without crashes, and once again there were many. Tomas Vaitkus and Gerald Ciolek went down, neither in a talkative mood after their mishaps. Vaitkus's small finger on his left hand was pretty bloody. Alexandre Blain (Cofidis) also went down. "I crashed on the Paddestraat. I was comfortably riding in the middle of the road when another rider was trying to get back into the middle and cut in front of me."